afternoon at an aircraft museum

The March Field Museum in Riverside, California, has a nice array of static exhibits that include a B-52 (it is amazing to see) and its predecessor, the B-47, along with several fighter and reconnaissance planes, cargo and fuel tankers.

Volunteers do everything there from running tours to repainting the aircraft, which suffer from the harsh weather. Consequently, many of the planes desperately need paint jobs that can be done only when the weather is very specifically correct for repainting a craft in an arid climate. Our tour guide today served in the air force for 25 years and was gracious in sharing his generous and comprehensive knowledge.

I, also, like to visit the T-38 out front, which is the pilot trainer that my husband worked on when he was in the air force. Actually, while we were there today, we saw a T-38 take off from the air strip at the adjacent air force base. It was black and sleek, and I barely caught a photo of it as it taxied back to the base. When we arrived, we were also lucky to see an Antonov, one of the world’s largest cargo planes, taxiing to the runway.